Kept In The Dark
by Valentina-Lestrange
Summary: All her life she'd been kept in the shadows. Now she just wants to escape, but she's not sure if she's strong enough to do it alone. Written for the 'Evanescence and Within Temptation Challenge,'


**Kept In The Dark**

**by Valentina-Lestrange**

_[Wake me up] Wake me up inside,_

_[I can't wake up] Wake me up inside,_

_[Save me] Call my name, and save me from the dark,_

_[Wake me up] Bid my blood to run,_

_[I can't wake up] Before I come undone,_

_[Save me] Save me from the nothing I've become,_

_Bring me to life,_

_I've been living a lie,_

_[Bring me to life]_

_There's nothing inside,_

_Bring me to life,_

'Bring Me To Life' - _Evanescence_

Andromeda Black was tired. She sat in front of her mirror and fixed her glassy stare at her reflection. Her wide brown eyes were, obviously the first thing that she saw. They were flat and there was none of her cheerful spirit shining brightly through them. They were like empty pools, forgotten and empty. If she had seen her eyes looking so lifeless a couple of years ago, she might've thought something was wrong and seen a healer. But she was used to it now. Her skin had a greyish tinge to it and it was tight over her skull, giving her a frighteningly corpse-like look. The corners of her mouth turned down into a miserable frown and her wavy brown her hair hung limply around her face. She sniffed slightly, wiping her nose on the hem of her dressing gown.

She looked at her reflection for a few more minutes, before slumping in front of the mirror helplessly. She pressed her face against the desk, relishing how cool it felt against her flesh. She didn't mind the way her hairbrush prickled her face, in fact, she quite liked it. She liked the fact she could actually feel something other than emptiness. She sighed and rubbed her eyes.

She was sick of this life. This stupid, stuffed up lie, repeating the same boring routine everyday. This pureblood life was draining all her spirit from her and she hated it. She didn't know how little Cissy could stand it, all this prim and proper 'Pureblood ladies can't do this, can't do that, blah blah blah' crap. How could she enjoy it? How could she like being sewn into those expensive dresses and be forced sit with those bitchy old women and talk about the latest 'scandalous gossip'. What sort of life was that?. 'Why should we be living our lives through other people? Why can't we stand on our own two feet and live our own lives?' she thought incredulously.

Bellatrix was living her own life. She made her own decisions and didn't give a shit about what Mother and Father thought of her. She did everything to defy their will. She drank, smoked, wore too much Goth make-up, did everything she could to rebel against the latest pureblood fashions (which often included wearing awful amounts of black) and seemed to have a different boyfriend every week - at the moment Bellatrix had got herself a French boyfriend, called Rudolph or something similar. She snorted. 'It'll never last' she whispered to herself.

Andromeda admired her sisters courage, that she could stand up for herself in front of Mother and Father, that she could be so independent from the pureblood world, though she didn't particularly agree with Bellatrix's chosen lifestyle. Getting pissed out of her brains and sleeping with complete strangers wasn't Andromeda's idea of a great time.

'I need to break free' she thought, resting her chin on her hands and looking at her reflection again. I need someone to help me, to help me leave this stupid dream world. To wake me up so I can see the real world that at the moment seems just out of reach - like when you're a child and the stars seem so close, but when you go to touch them they're just so far away from you. She needed someone.

She turned around and looked out of her window. It was still dark. Her life had always been in the dark really. The Black Family really was appropriately named, skulking in the shadows of pureblood society when out there in the sunlight was an amazing world just waiting to be discovered. Sometimes she really wondered whether she could leave this life. She'd spent so much of her life hiding in this world, that she wondered if the real world was just a little to big for her. Whether she could really just step outside just when the sun rises and leave this boring, tiring, prejudiced, bigoted, stupid life behind in her past.

But who would help her? Who does she know that it also willing to escape with her, to hold her hand and explore the amazing world lingering on their own doorstep. Cissy wouldn't, Bella certainly wouldn't, she snorted derisively. Cissy would laugh, Bella would shout and they would both tell Mother and Father. She sighed again and stood up slowly. Giving her reflection a long, dark look she sank onto her bed. You think too much Andromeda Black, she told herself. She pulled the thick white duvet up off of the floor and curled underneath it. Within a few minutes she was fast asleep again.

_All this time I can't believe I couldn't see,_

_Kept in the dark, but you were there in front of me,_

_I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems,_

_Got to open my eyes to everything,_

_Without thought,_

_Without a voice,_

_Without a soul,_

_Don't let me die here,_

_There must be something more,_

_Bring me to life,_

* * *

**Author's Notes: Well hellloooooo there! Long time no see! This was written for sick-atxxheart's Evanescence and Within Temptation Challenge over at the Fanfiction Challenges Forum (Seriously, go check that place out it is freakin' fantastic). I still have fifteen more fics to write. Yes, fifteen, I have a list. This is a bit sort of... drabbly for me, it's very different. But that's cool, and I like this, I've not really done a fanfic where it has Andromeda's opinions on her life.**

**Fans of After My Sister Left/Promises That May Be Broken, I'm going through a serious writers block for that, because the part of the plot that I was going to do for that has been written in another fic. So it'll be a while before the next update methinks. I have to decide whether I'm going to tweak a few parts or change the plot completely. Hey, I might find the file where I've kept the original story and just rewrite it for the new version, but for the moment I'll probably stick with the current version of the newer version. If anyone had any suggestions just message me =)**

**Anyway, please Review, because you know you want to and in the words of x-slytherincess-x, you save a ktten every time you review, oh yes you do my lovelies, oh yes you do....**

**... I've had lots of coffee today, I don't know if you noticed.**

**Ellie x**


End file.
